Rare tortoise runs away from home

CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. -- Sherman, an African spur-thighed tortoise, is safe and back at home after being missing for several days. What now? His owner hopes to have him breed.

Deanna Wheeler

Sherman, an African spur-thighed tortoise, is safe and back at home after being missing for several days.

Owner Andrew Shellabarger said he was able to recover his missing tortoise shortly after receiving a tip from a good Samaritan early Monday morning.

"He's going to be fine. He's a little dehydrated, he's exhausted, but I'm just glad I got him back," he said.

Sherman was reported missing last week from Shellabarger's back yard near Ha Ha Tonka State Park.

The 85-pound, 3-foot-plus long tortoise was going to be used for breeding. After years of inbreeding in zoos, new genes of Sherman's species are hard to come by, Shellabarger said, and his tortoise has never been used for breeding, so he would have been able to supplement the gene pool.

Now that Sherman is back at home, Shellabarger said those plans are back on.

"It would be great to get a female tortoise here, maybe we could start our own breeding program right here in Missouri. It would be something brand-new," he said.